Chapter 330 Entering Malacca
The marriage was decided by the two fathers, and the children had no say.
There was another reason why Raresh wanted to marry the Mason family. He found out that the second son of the family was in the East. The word East was already familiar in the Roman Empire. The East India Company established by the empire could bring a large amount of spices and luxury goods every year, and it was a monopoly.
Since he was in the East, he was likely an employee of the East India Company. If he could marry, he might be able to expand the cotton and silk trade.
It was quite remarkable to be able to guess this, but he still didn't guess that Mason was not only an employee of the East India Company, but also the governor of the East appointed by the royal family. But these appointments are generally not open to the public.
At this time, Mason had led the fleet to Aceh, and the local rulers had never seen so many ships, so they quickly sent people to invite their leaders. Mason was able to enter the ruler's palace, which was called a palace, but it was actually just a very large hut.
The local Arabs provided translation services for Mason, and Mason also said directly that they asked the ruler to provide supplies for his fleet and also asked the other party to provide a place for them to build a trading house.
"We come with a mission of peace, and we want to trade with all countries in a friendly way."
In other words: We come to do business with you, and we hope that it can be done peacefully. We don't want to fight. Look at our cannons, are you afraid?
Well, actually, we are here for the luxury goods of the East. As long as the imperial merchants are not expelled, we can coexist peacefully. And we are here only to eliminate pirates this time, and the rest can be discussed later.
The ruler of Aceh saw that the other party came for trade, and he readily agreed to the request. This was for the friendly coexistence of the two countries, not because the other party gave him a large box of treasure.
After arriving here, Mason quickly replenished his material reserves. From Aden to Ceylon and then to Aceh, he encountered a storm along the way, but fortunately there was no danger.
From the merchants here, we learned that after passing Aceh, we went south into the territory of pirates. They robbed merchant ships that had completed transactions here. Most merchant ships only paid protection fees, but when they encountered merchant ships with particularly high profits, they would directly take them down.
In addition, they also saw other ethnic groups in Aceh besides Arabs and Indians. They have regular facial features, long hair for both men and women, and the men's long hair is tied up with a ribbon and they wear square hats. Their skin is whiter than that of Indians, but a little darker than themselves. According to them, they have been here for decades.
Most of these people are in families, use different characters from them, believe in different religions, their children can go to school to study, and they are likely to come from the Eastern country he is looking for.
Because the two sides do not speak the same language, they can only get a rough idea through Arabic translation. It means that a place called Old Port in the south is a disaster area for pirates, and the people there know more, so he can go and see.
It seems that the language barrier is a big problem. He needs a teacher who can teach this language to train translators for them.
The fleet continued to set off and encountered some small pirates, who were directly sent to their ancestors by cannons.
"My lord, it will take six days to reach the Old Port they mentioned."
Mason looked at the sea in front of him and kept looking for the exact location on the map and compass. After all, they had never been to these places, so they could only follow the local guides. As they went deeper, more and more map fog was cleared.
Starting from Aceh, the waters here are narrower than those near Aden. It seems to have returned to the Red Sea waters of Egypt, but unlike the deserts on both sides of the Red Sea, the two sides here are dominated by rainforests.
In order to better explore here, Mason decided to find a place to stay on the other side temporarily. Soon a small port came into view.
It has been less than two years since the establishment of Malacca, and the local rulers have spent a lot of manpower and material resources to have the prototype of the town. However, he had never seen so many ships. At first, he thought it was an enemy country that attacked, so he took the people to hide inland, so when Mason went ashore, he found that there was no one here, but the traces here indicated that there were still people living here.
"Are we in the wrong place?" This was the first sentence Mason said. In his opinion, even if the other party regarded him as an enemy, he should actively lead troops to defend. Why did they all run away?
"My Lord, they should have gone somewhere else. Should we go and look for them?"
"Remember, let them know that we are not here to attack them, but to help them."
At this time, the translators hired from Aceh came into play. They went to the rainforest to persuade the residents to come back in a language that the locals could understand. And they said that their leader was at the port, and the ruler could go there to talk to him in person.
At first, the residents were still a little afraid of them, but under the other party's language offensive, some people gradually returned to the port. They sold goods and food to the other party and received a lot of coins. Soon they spread the news to the rainforest, and more and more people returned to the port. The local area soon became lively again.
Seeing that the other party was really not from an enemy country, the local ruler also walked out of the rainforest and came to Mason's ship in person to talk to him.
"Great ruler, I am here on the order of the Roman Emperor to trade with various countries in a friendly manner. I have disturbed your country before, and I hope you don't mind."
The translator told Mason's words to the other party, and the other party's expression soon relaxed.
"Malacca welcomes your country. Your fleet is so large that I believe it can help it grow."
The two sides conducted a simple diplomatic ceremony, and the following days were all about trade. The fleet brought ironware, copperware and other commodities from Aden and Rome to exchange for spices such as pepper, and Mason also learned about the ruler of the Malacca Kingdom he said - the prince of Srivijaya (Srivijaya), Parameswara.
He could have lived his own life in Sumatra, but the Majapahit Empire in Java coveted the rich Sumatra Island. Decades ago, Majapahit then captured the imperial city of Palembang and the capital Jambi, and the Srivijaya Kingdom was declared extinct.
In order to revive his hegemony, Parameswara's great-grandfather led his confidants to Temasek, killed the local chief appointed by the Sukhothai Kingdom, and established himself as king. Shortly after Parameswara ascended the throne three years ago, Majapahit invaded. The Singapore regime was defeated by the powerful Majapahit Empire, and Parameswara fled to the Malay Peninsula. He first stayed in Muar for a short time. After finding that Muar had no natural defenses, he went north to the Malacca River area. Then he built a city here two years ago.